The UN General Assembly backed a resolution promoting the Equal Earth map projection, with 164 countries voting in favour. The map gives a more accurate representation of the relative sizes of continents, making Africa and South America appear larger than on the Mercator projection. The US opposed the resolution, while France said it would abandon the Mercator map in favour of Equal Earth.
Dozens of civil rights and advocacy groups are urging Congress to scrap a defense bill provision that would deepen U.S.-Israeli military technology ties, according to a letter seen by Reuters, at a time of growing U.S. skepticism toward the longtime ally. read more
he AI productivity boom will soon make America richer, say the two leaders of the American economy -- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh -- so much so that it'll be deflationary; and enough that we can forgo worrying about our $40 trillion debt even. But analysts are starting to wonder: richer for whom? Workers' share of U.S. income has already fallen to its lowest level on record, while corporate profit margins keep breaking records quarter by quarter.
A swarm of rogue OpenAI agents hijacked a German website this spring and transformed it into a bulletin board for other AI agents, according to new research published Friday and two people familiar with the matter. OpenAI officials learned of the incident weeks ago but kept it under wraps as executives grappled with the fallout from the July breach of the open source repository Hugging Face, the people said.
The Supreme Court is allowing President Donald Trump to press on with his White House ballroom project -- over a strident objection from Chief Justice John Roberts and the court's liberal wing. read more
Related ...
Ken Paxton Accused of New Ethical Violations: 'Significant' Misrepresentations on His Financial Disclosures
www.mediaite.com
... Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) is facing a new crop of accusations of ethical violations after a Friday report by The Texas Tribune with ProPublica.
Yes, different allegations; these are new additions to the already stunning series of scandals, lawsuits, controversies, and a messy divorce that have plagued Paxton for years and are widely credited with dragging him down in the polls in his U.S. Senate race against the Democratic nominee, State Rep. James Talarico (D).
Paxton scored President Donald Trump's endorsement over the incumbent Cornyn and won the GOP primary, but that victory required a runoff, burned through campaign funds, and left the warnings from Cornyn and his allies looking prescient that Paxton would be a weaker candidate in the general election.
The article by Zach Despart, Kayla Guo, and Alexandra Glorioso reported that Paxton "appears to have violated federal ethics law in significant ways when filing recent disclosures of his assets and liabilities, creating confusion about his net worth and holding," based on the reporters' review of the records and consultation with ethics law experts.
Among the discrepancies in Paxton's filings were his reports that he owned seven homes -- six of which were listed for rent -- but claimed to have earned zero income from all these properties.
The Tribune's reporters found "some current residents and neighbors at those addresses [who] confirmed that the properties were rented," and cited three experts who said not reporting income violates federal disclosure laws. ...
Related ...
Why are European countries moving their gold out of North America?
www.bbc.com
... When the central bank of the Netherlands confirmed this week that it had moved tonnes of the country's gold out of North America, it said the relocation would make it "better prepared for severe crises".
Some 86 tonnes from the combined total of about 313 tonnes held in the US and Canada were relocated to London "in view of increasing geopolitical unrest", it said, so the shiny stuff could be "readily available for use in a crisis situation".
Questions were bound to follow. Why were the Dutch doing this? Were they anticipating some major economic shock on the horizon?
It seems not, but the move was clearly in response to the unstable and uncertain state the world finds itself in, with trade and military wars prompting countries to take precautions and hold their gold closer to home.
Earlier this year, France announced it had removed its gold reserves from the US to home shores. Meanwhile, Germany's Bundesbank transferred more than 216 tonnes of the metal from storage locations abroad - 111 tonnes from New York and 105 tonnes from Paris - over a few years ending in 2016.
It is a strategy which has played out before in times of global instability. "Some European central banks moved part of their gold holdings to New York during the Cold War," said research analysts Lina Thomas and Daan Struyven of Goldman Sachs.
Joseph Cavatoni, senior market strategist at the World Gold Council, told the BBC while wars and trade tensions were "playing into some of these decisions", it didn't "top the list" of motivating factors.
Inflation, interest rates and just having gold in a place where it can be traded quickly also played a role.
"I don't get a sense that there's an impending doom," Cavatoni said, "but what I do think is people are being better educated around how to manage their reserve assets, growing their reserve assets, and actually thinking more effectively around how to make the most of those assets." ...
Another view ...
What different world maps get right -- and what they get wrong
www.bbc.com
... The UN has just called for the predominant world map to be replaced with one that more accurately reflects the true size of continents such as Africa.
The "Correct the Map" resolution adopted by the General Assembly aims to fix the discrepancy on the Mercator map, in which the African continent is shown as being of similar size to Greenland -- even though it is in reality about 14 times larger. ...
The now widely used Mercator map was created in 1569 by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator.
Its main purpose was to help European sailors navigate the oceans, as cartography Professor James Cheshire at University College London explained.
"He wanted a straight line to be drawn on a map to look like a straight line in reality if you followed a compass bearing," he told the BBC. "That was what it was intended to do, and that's what it does brilliantly well."
To keep those angles correct on a flat map, Mercator had to stretch the grid lines wider as they moved away from the equator toward the poles.
His map accommodates for the curvature of the Earth by making countries near the equator seem much smaller than they are, with countries nearer the poles appearing stretched. ...
The Equal Earth map aims to address this problem with the Mercator projection.
It was developed by a team of cartographers in 2018 to present the size and shape of landmasses more accurately. It was inspired by the 1963 Robinson projection -- a map that shows the entire globe's surface at once.
The Equal Earth map was adopted by African Union members in February.
But it sacrifices the straight lines that made the Mercator projection perfect for navigating with -- and it cannot be used for measuring the true distance between different places.
"You can preserve area, or you can preserve shape, or you can preserve distance and direction, but not everything at once perfectly, because otherwise you'd be back to a sphere," Cheshire said. ...
@#18
18 U.S. Code 1702 - Obstruction of correspondence
www.law.cornell.edu
... Whoever takes any letter, postal card, or package out of any post office or any authorized depository for mail matter, or from any letter or mail carrier, or which has been in any post office or authorized depository, or in the custody of any letter or mail carrier, before it has been delivered to the person to whom it was directed, with design to obstruct the correspondence, or to pry into the business or secrets of another, or opens, secretes, embezzles, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. ...
18 U.S. Code 1708 - Theft or receipt of stolen mail matter generally
www.law.cornell.edu
... Whoever steals, takes, or abstracts, or by fraud or deception obtains, or attempts so to obtain, from or out of any mail, post office, or station thereof, letter box, mail receptacle, or any mail route or other authorized depository for mail matter, or from a letter or mail carrier, any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or abstracts or removes from any such letter, package, bag, or mail, any article or thing contained therein, or secretes, embezzles, or destroys any such letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or any article or thing contained therein; or
Whoever steals, takes, or abstracts, or by fraud or deception obtains any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or any article or thing contained therein which has been left for collection upon or adjacent to a collection box or other authorized depository of mail matter; or
Whoever buys, receives, or conceals, or unlawfully has in his possession, any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or any article or thing contained therein, which has been so stolen, taken, embezzled, or abstracted, as herein described, knowing the same to have been stolen, taken, embezzled, or abstracted --
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. ...
Maria Bartiromo Insists She Wasn't Fired By Fox News: "We Have The Receipts", Attorney Claims
deadline.com
... Longtime Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, through attorney Bryan Freedman, is disputing reports that she has been fired by Fox News Media.
"For many years, Maria Bartiromo hosted three No. 1 rated television shows on Fox channels. She has been, without question, one of the hardest working journalists throughout her award winning career," Freedman said in a statement. "The irresponsible reports that have been published stating that Maria Bartiromo was fired or is no longer an employee of Fox are absolutely and unequivocally false. Make no mistake, we have the receipts and witnesses and they will come out whether through the courthouse or otherwise. Those reporting her firing or the incredulous facts supporting that fiction have exhibited a complete and utter reckless disregard for the truth."
Bartiromo's abrupt departure was announced Thursday. "Effective today, Maria Bartiromo is no longer with Fox News Media," the company said in a terse press release, which did not offer any details about what prompted her exit. "We thank Maria for her work over the last 12 years and wish her all the best on her next chapter." ...
Trump plans to break ground on Washington arch without final approval
www.reuters.com
... The Trump administration on Thursday announced plans to break ground on a 250-foot (76-meter) arch in Washington, despite legal challenges and the lack of final approval from a government planning authority. ...
Camel - Airborn (1976)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
...
High flying diver, spread your wings
Flying high on a cloud
Born on the air, spiral around
So easy making circles
You never touch the ground
You see the sea, feel the sky
Don't know where you're going
You don't, you don't know the answers
To what's in my mind
Riding on the wind and turning with the tide
Light takes you up, it brings you down
Change is the things that to me
Is chained to the frost, the wind and the rain
And everyone keeps staring up
You'll be back again
...
Meanwhile, while Pres Trump seems to be giving away America to his wealthy friends, this is happening...
US urges NATO allies to prepare in case Russia attacks
www.usatoday.com
Kingdom Come - Time Captives (1973)
www.youtube.com
Interesting tune. It takes a while to get started ...
Lyrics excerpt ...
...
Now time ship! Atom centuries!
Alpha waves compute before eternity began
Lone protons probing vast galaxies
We seek a void where creation once cried "OM!"
Time captains
We synthesise the rays powering your brain
We are time captains
We synthesise the race power in your brain
We are time captains
We are time captains
Network cosmic mind learn your destiny
We are time captains
We are time captains
We write the astral records of history
We are time captains
Oceans free-fall
Waves interweave
Patterns
Dizzy space
Sound ball
Soft birth
Colours congeal'ectricity
Cosmoscope sparks
Night laughs cool
Flare heartbeat
Serene sun
...
Yeah, they don't write lyrics like that anymore. Is that A Good Thing?
(aside from the "captains" in the lyrics vs ""captives" in the title/)
fwiw, the lead of Kingdom Come is the same as the lead of ...
Crazy World of Arthur Brown - Fire (1968)
www.youtube.com
@#11 ... "deal" = "Steal" ...
That seems to be how the Venezuelans view this arrangement.
For starters ...
Inside the US-Venezuela oil agreements: Big promises, little clarity
english.elpais.com
... The oil agreement announced between the United States and Venezuela has been touted with great fanfare for the many benefits it is supposedly set to deliver. At the same time, it has been met with surprise, skepticism and disappointment by public opinion in both countries.
In some sectors of Venezuelan politics, concern is growing over the strengthening ties between the United States and the Venezuelan government. The unease remains largely personal and has yet to find organized political expression. There is a growing perception that Washington is maneuvering to shore up the political status quo and has little interest in Venezuela's opposition leadership.
Discontent is also evident among dissident supporters of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), who have voiced frustration with the government's decisions. The government and the PSUV party establishment, led by Diosdado Cabello, have closed ranks in a characteristically disciplined show of support for the agreement.
What does the agreement involve? ...
Grand Drive - Wheels (2000)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
...
Steel yourself
May your wheels run true
I just want the way I'm feeling to
Take a chance
Take your time
I just want the way I'm feeling to
Don't let the grass grow
Don't let the wheels make you slow
Your hat is on
You're on your way now
Don't let the grass grow
Don't let the wheels take control
Your hat is on
You're on your way now
...
@#5 ... Jailbirds of a feather flock together ...
Looks that way ...
The Venezuelan billionaire the US investigated for money laundering now has a Pentagon oil deal
www.reuters.com